Date: 08 Feb 2011
A Tele-conference of the International Pandit Community with Dr. Dileep Padgaonkar, the Lead GOI Interlocutor, took place on Friday 4th Feb. 2011. Some of the community members have requested for my comments in the said conference. Here is the full text of my comments for your information. Jagan \\\\\\\\\\ As we see it the events in Kashmir need to be analyzed in a realistic manner. The locally invented political system by a domineering majority and the phenomena of political correctness, have brought about this shortcoming. Yet these events have had profound and lasting impact on the non-Muslim minorities of J&K. \\\\\\\\\ In fact most of these events were conspicuously unidirectional enriching the ruling community while depriving the weak minorities. The obvious result of this one way flow was that the power in totality became concentrated in the hands of a single community. The Pandits being a minuscule Hindu minority, scattered all over the valley were on the receiving end of the authoritarian regime born out of this power grab. \\\\\\\\\\ They were battered, terrorized, driven out and treated as the Indian fifth column by the Muslim majoritarianism in 1931, 1967, and 1986, 1989-90. In modern times these are a few of the significant assaults perpetrated by the agents of the Islamic civilizational conquest. \\\\\\\\\ In view of the oft-repeated assurance by the national leadership, the faith, trust and confidence of the Pandit community in the Indian political class was full, complete and unfettered. They had believed in the promise of building a multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic plural society with equality and protection for all. \\\\\\\\ However, under the cover of nationalism and secularism while Srinagar proceeded to enforce an Islamic agenda, Delhi started drifting from its original commitment to the KPs living in India’s only Muslim majority state. The working of the Muslim majoritarianism led to their complete political marginalization and economic deprivation. It also denied minority or majority status to them. \\\\\\\\\\ The bubble of superficial and phony secularism in Kashmir burst in 1989-90, and the Pandit community became the main target of the Islamic jihad. The unidirectional political system, oppressive social relationships and communal administration wedded to the Islamist policies, uprooted almost the entire KP community from the valley. This turbulence led to: \\\\\\\\\\ Public execution of the Pandit personalities \\\\\\\\\\ Oft repeated massacres of Pandits and Sikhs \\\\\\ Loot and arson of their properties \\\\\\\\\\ Kidnapping, rape & murders \\\\\\\\\\ Forcible occupation of properties \\\\\\\\\\ Falsification of revenue & Govt. records \\\\\\\\\ Decimation and looting of Hindu temples \\\\\\\ Islamizing the names of cities, rivers, hills, places of pilgrimage, chowks, roads etc. \\\\\\\\\\\ Imposition of Sharia as the state law \\\\\\\\\\ Denial of judicial probes of crimes \\\\\\\\\ Denial of issuance of White Paper \\\\\\ Denial to exercise the right of hoisting the national flag \\\\\\\\\\ Imposition of conditions on Amarnath pilgrimage \\\\\\\\\\\\\ (Five lack Muslims in Srinagar showing Pak-flags shouting “We are Pakistanis”) \\\\\\\ Imposition of tax on Hindu pilgrims in the state \\\\\\\\\\ Slogans \\\\\\\\\\ Yehan Kiya Chal-e Ga – Nizam-e-Mustafa \\\\\\\\\\\ Asi Gachi Pakistan – Batav Ross te Batnev Saan \\\\\\\\\\ Ralive, Chalive ya Galive \\\\\\\\\\\\ The trauma of uprootment, violence, communal hostility, dehumanization and economic decimation among other things caused deep and lasting emotional scars, distress, sense of loss and hurt in the community. The sufferance of Kashmiri Pandits after Indian independence is so colossal that it has no parallel in modern history in any democratic society. \\\\\\\\\ It was caused by Muslim animosity & hatred, discrimination, economic squeeze, communal violence and calculated administrative indifference and neglect. All these criminal behaviors led to ethnic cleansing, genocide and finally exile. \\\\\\\\\\ Now the Pandits are struggling to survive as a distinct ethnic community in exile. They want to preserve their rich cultural heritage. To reclaim their homeland they are also engaged in a broad based political struggle attracting national and international recognition. The Margdharshan Proclamation for a Homeland adopted by Panun Kashmir marked the first call of the community to liberate itself from the Muslim subjugation and tyranny. It rejected the idea of being ruled by a political clique that distinctly declared its loyalty and allegiance to India’s mortal enemy – Pakistan. \\\\\\\\\\\ What has been done to the Pandits is naturally the outcome of a deep design to liquidate the indigenous people of Kashmir, grab their territory and Islamize the region. It is a tragic tale of the extermination of indigenous people on the grounds of their religious affiliation in a country which prides itself as an opponent of the infamous two nation theory. \\\\\\\\\\\ The forced displacement of KPs from their ancestral homes reflects the colossal failure of the Govt. and its betrayal of the word and spirit of the Indian Constitution. GOI cannot underestimate the disastrous consequences of the application of the two nation theory in Kashmir. Its adverse implications have potential to engulf the entire nation. Eminent political analysts have already identified three goals of the Islamic conquest in Kashmir. They are: \\\\\\\\\\\ a) To cleanse the region of Kaffirs; \\\\\\\\\\\ b) To use Kashmir as a staging post for de-stabilizing the rest of India, and; \\\\\\\\\\\\\\ c) To merge Kashmir with the greater Islamic world by attaching it to Pakistan. \\\\\\\\\\\ More often than not such demographic subversions are motivated by the lure of physical occupation of land and properties owned by “infidels”. The regimes following such philosophies have shown a remarkable inability to co-exist with other religious formations and function democratically under a constitution guaranteeing freedom and equality for all. It has happened in India’s immediate neighborhood –Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. And now J&K has fallen prey to this imperialist system. \\\\\\\\\\\ To prevent things from getting out of hand there is an urgent need for developing a well thought out plan for India’s national security. The establishiment of a Homeland for the Pandits, Sikhs and other refugees right in the valley falls in the center of such a plan. \\\\\\\\\\\ All of the 28 Indian States and 7 Union territories were created through the process of political reorganization. 5 of the 7 UT have nearly as much or less population as that of the Pandits, Sikhs and others in exile. These communities being at the verge of extinction endangered and threatened by the expansionist Islam, can be saved only by carving out a Union Territory for them – a union territory where there is free flow of Indian Constitution. Such an act will simultaneously fulfill the twin goal of a) saving these communities with unique cultures and rich past; and, b) enhancing the national security by empowering India’s loyal citizens in a strategic region. We ask you Mr. Padgaonkar, to ask the Prime Minister to do it as it is the right thing to do.\\\\\\\\\\\\ 000000000